Ana de Armas continues to honor Marilyn Monroe. Following her portrayal of the late icon in “Blonde,” the actor attended the 2023 Oscars on March 12 wearing a dress reminiscent of an iconic Marilyn Monroe style moment. The nude Louis Vuitton dress was covered in delicate beading that reminded de Armas of “little drops of rain and flowers,” she said in an E! interview on the red carpet.
Apart from its mermaid silhouette, de Armas’s dress shared a similar bodice and fabric as the dress Monroe wore to a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in 1962, where she famously sang “Happy Birthday” to John F. Kennedy. The nude-illusion gown caused a stir at the time and later became one of the most expensive dresses in the world when it sold at auction for nearly $5 million in 2016. The dress again found itself in the news when Kim Kardashian wore it to the 2022 Met Gala after getting it on loan from a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum.
Designed by Jean Louis, Monroe’s dress featured 2,500 crystals. De Armas’s dress, meanwhile, required similar craftsmanship, reportedly requiring 1,000 hours to make. Styled by Samantha McMillen, de Armas kept the rest of her look simple with diamond hoop earrings, bangles, and a matching ring stack. The evening prior to the Oscars, de Armas wore a similar nude dress to a Netflix party celebrating its nominees.
See photos of de Armas on the red carpet ahead.